#GirlsOnTheAirWaves2020
During the 16 Days of Activism, people around the world unite to raise awareness about gender-based violence, challenge discriminatory attitudes, and call for improved laws and services to end violence against women and girls for good. In 2020, we aligned with the global theme of the 16 Days of Activism on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls which is, “Orange the world: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”. Our Adolescent Girl Leaders united their powerful voices to lead advocacy for the protection of their rights by raising awareness on the negative impact that gender-based violence has on girls, and women, and the social fabric of our society.
2020 Girls on the Air Waves Experiences to mark World Press Freedom Day 2021
2020 Girls on the Air Waves Highlights
In 2020, Girls Voices Initiative received funding support from the French Embassy to host Girls on the Air Waves, our digital action campaign led by adolescent girls who anchor the radio series to raise awareness about gender-based violence and mobilize community action to end all forms of violence against girls and women to mark the 16 Days of Activism and end with a celebration of the International Human Rights Day where the girls restate that Girl’s Rights are Human Rights’. The Girls on the Air Waves program held in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Although impacted by the pandemic, we were only unable to conduct the digital action training with public secondary schoolgirls as designed. However, we were able to safely mobilize some Girls Voices Girl Leaders who were able to go to the radio station in various shifts to anchor our slots of the program.
Our Girl Leaders were even more poised to host another edition of Girls on the Air Waves radio series to mark the 16 Days of Activism. They leveraged the radio platform to share the peculiar challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigeria’s adolescent girls with an alarming explosion of gender-based violence cases including the horrific incidence of over 80 cases of fathers raping their daughters reported in Anambra State during the lockdown. This edition of Girls on the Air Waves recorded a tremendous success reaching over 122 million people across the 8-days episode of the Program. The Live shows were electric with the girls discussing real-lived experiences of gender-based violence in their homes, schools, religious places of worship, and other public spaces. The girls also discussed the drivers of GBV, including the role of culture, and how various stakeholders need to act to end GBV in Nigeria. The call-in sessions were always so vibrant and engaging with men calling in to contribute to the discussions. The Girls on the Air Waves digital action campaign is a program that we plan to sustain because it has a very impressive reach and presents a unique opportunity to target significant populations that are high-risk and can be reached with the right advocacy message. And you can join our Girl Leaders to raise your voices to demand action and end GBV in Nigeria!
#GirlsOnTheAirWaves2018
The 16 Days of Activism on the Elimination of Violence against Girls and Women is an annual global campaign that kicks off on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Girls and Women and runs until the 10th of December, which is the International Human Rights Day. As envisioned by the founding activists at the Inaugural Women’s Global Leadership, the 16 Days of Activism serves as an organizing strategy for individuals and organizations, around the world, to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. In Nigeria, Girls Voices hosts the Girls on the Air Waves Program as part of our activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism on the Elimination of Violence against Girls and Women.
Girls on the Air Waves is a digital action program that targets adolescent girls with training on advocacy and empowers them to champion advocacy on ending violence against girls in alignment with the 16 Days of Activism on the Elimination of Violence against Girls and Women which runs on national radio and streams to a global audience. The Girls on the Air Waves program has our girls anchor the LIVE show on radio for 8 days of the 16 Days of Activism. In 2018, the Girls on the Air Waves program launch targeted 35 adolescent girls from a public secondary school in the FCT and the girls were in the radio in various daily slots to anchor the LIVE show discussing several topics ranging from What is GBV? The common drivers of GBV, the role of culture to perpetuate GBV, the role of government to end GBV, the emptiness of an abuser’s threat, the journey of healing from GBV and so much more. In its launch, the Girls on the Air Waves radio program reached over 80 million listeners in Nigeria and around the world through the Livestreams.
Playlist of the 2018 Girls on the Air Waves 16 Days of Activism on Ending Violence against Girls and Women